AEW Dynamite Review - January 29, 2025

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

Will Ospreay def. Brian Cage

These two previously faced off last year for the AEW International Championship. There was zero uncertainty surrounding the outcome here as well, but it was a well-wrestled match you'd expect from them. I love that Ospreay is winning more matches with the Styles Clash instead of just using it for a nearfall. Kenny Omega attempted to make the save for Ospreay afterward, but both guys were laid out by The Don Callis Family. There's been teases of a sixth member of the group and I honestly don't have any guesses as to who it could be.

AEW World Trios Champion Claudio Castagnoli def. Jeff Jarrett

Jarrett would've earned an opportunity at the AEW World Championship had he won here. Thankfully, that didn't happen, but I imagine it will eventually. The match was decent, but I can only care so much about Jarrett being prominently featured on television in 2025. The ending also had way too many shenanigans. Did Castagnoli seriously need both Wheeler Yuta and Jon Moxley to get involved in order to beat Jarrett?

Ricochet def. AR Fox

It was announced beforehand that had Swerve Strickland interfered, his match with Ricochet on next week's Dynamite would've been called off. Aside from a recent Dynamite match with Strickland, Fox hasn't been on Dynamite in what feels like forever, so it was extremely predictable Ricochet would win. Despite that, they had a nice outing. Post-match, Strickland attempted to get a measure of revenge on Ricochet before Ricochet threatened to attack with a pair of scissors and got away.

Jay White def. AEW World Trios Champions Wheeler Yuta

I understand Yuta is a part of the top heel faction in the company at the moment, but it realistically shouldn't have taken White as long as it did to put him away. While there was nothing technically wrong with the match, it was more competitive than it needed to be. Rated FTR made the save for White afterward and FTR challenged any two members of The Death Riders to a Street Fight on Saturday's Collision.

AEW Women's World Champion Mariah May Addressed Toni Storm

The segment with May and Storm last Saturday on Collision was excellent, for those who missed it. May has really lacked direction throughout her title reign, but reigniting her rivalry with Storm automatically gives her promos more purpose. Thus, this was a quality promo from May to hype their championship clash at Grand Slam: Australia.

AEW TBS Champion/NJPW Strong Women's Champion/RevPro Undisputed British Women's Champion Mercedes Mone def. Yuka Sakazaki (NJPW Strong Women's Championship and RevPro Undisputed British Women's Championship Were Not Defended)

I selfishly hope Mone drops one of her many titles soon (or at least stops wearing one of them on AEW TV) so I don't have to write such a lengthy headline for every match she has. Nonetheless, Mone and Sakasaki worked well together, but this was hardly an exciting main event because there was almost zero chance Sakazaki would actually win. Props to AEW for putting the women on last, but this was one of those instances where it felt out of place and didn't end the night on a high note.

Overall Show

Unfortunately, this was an extremely dull and lifeless show. The crowd was quiet for a majority of it and I don't blame them in the slightest. There truly wasn't anything out of the ordinary worth getting invested in. The Death Riders stuff is, well, death and most of these matches were meaningless and more of the same. The above-average action wasn't enough to salvage the show this week. This was a weak effort on the whole.

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